Apolipoprotein E polymorphism - a risk factor in Romanian pregnant women with preeclampsia

L. M. Procopciuc, G. M. Hazi, G. Caracostea, G. Nemeti, I. Olteanu, F. Stamatian

Abstract: The objective is to determine the influence of the APOE genotypes on blood lipid levels, the degree of severity and perinatal outcome of preeclampsia. The APOE genotypes were performed in 101 pregnant women,51 preeclamptic and 50 healthy pregnant women using PCR-FRLP methods. We compared genotype and allele frequencies between women with preeclampsia and normal pregnant women by Fisher’s exact test two-sided. We calculated odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). The significance of results was defined as p <0.05. Different distribution of the APOE genotypes in pregnant women with preeclampsia compared to normal pregnant women was observed. Higher frequency of ε3/ε4 genotypes was found in pregnant women with PIH, mild and severe preeclampsia compared to normal pregnant women. Higher TG and LDL-C levels and lower HDL-C levels in women with the ε4 allele as compared to women with the ε3/ε3 genotype was observed. Preeclamptic women with the ε4 allele delivered earlier neonates with lower birth weight compared to preeclamptic women with ε3/ε3 genotype. The study is of interest in part due to the novelty of the methods applied for the ε4 allele determination. We observed a significant association of the ε3/ε4 genotype with PIH and severe preeclampsia. The ε4 allele represents a risk factor for dyslipidemia and influence the perinatal outcome of preeclampsia.
Keywords: APOE genotypes, PCR-RFLP, preeclampsia, lipoproteins levels, Romania